As Vermont loses its ash trees, towns race to stop the Ash Borer
The emerald ash borer, an invasive pest that kills ash trees, has been detected in 13 Vermont counties and is still spreading. But towns often don’t have the budget, or the guidance, to address it. Vermont’s environmental experts are imagining a future without ash trees — and that future isn’t far away. It’s all because…
The emerald ash borer, an invasive pest that kills ash trees, has been detected in 13 Vermont counties and is still spreading. But towns often don’t have the budget, or the guidance, to address it.
Vermont’s environmental experts are imagining a future without ash trees — and that future isn’t far away.
It’s all because the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle from Asia, is destroying ash trees from the inside out. The beetles’ larvae burrow into and feed on inner layers of bark, damaging the system trees use to transport water and nutrients throughout their branches and leaves.
The beetles, commonly referred to as EAB, have been reported in 72 municipalities across 13 of Vermont’s 14 counties, according to the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.
Read more about Teachers Tree is doing to combat the Emerald Ash Borer here.
Vt Digger
Arborist Greg Ranallo and one of the ash trees he has recently treated against the emerald ash borer in Shelburne on Friday, July 19. Ranallo favors treating the trees to curb the spread of the invasive pest rather than cutting them down. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Greg Ranallo
From the classroom to the trees
Greg Ranallo has been working with trees since he was 19 years old — a passion that began long before it became a profession. After earning a master's degree in education and teaching high school social studies in his native Minnesota, Greg ultimately followed the calling he'd had since boyhood and built Teacher's Tree Service into one of the Champlain Valley's most trusted arboriculture companies. As he puts it, "I was always more a tree guy who was teaching than a teacher who did tree work."
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